Vasile Stoica

The 43 year old paraplegic will soon depart on this amazing trip, his destination being North Cape, Norway. So far, he has pushed his wheelchair across 70,000 kilometers on roads from across the world, the longest such adventure being his round the world trip he took from May, 1998, till May, 1999. A 36,000 kilometer journey which took him through North America, Australia, Asia, and Europe.

His Guinness World Record is for the longest distance in a wheelchair in 24 hours – 132 kilometers. Vasile Stoica is also the first person to complete the almost 4000 kilometers of Route 66 in a wheelchair. That took him… you guessed right, exactly 66 days!

This is one truly inspirational story for travel lovers and anyone else! The Travel Tweaks team would like to wish Vasile Stoica happy travels and many more thrilling adventures!

 Photo from Vasile’s website.

“Crowded seating, rising ticket prices, extra fees and poor service all contribute to a rather dreary travel experience,” says Claes Fornell, ACSI founder and Chairman. “Airlines continue to improve service for business travelers, which is important since they are the most profitable customer group. Still, their satisfaction remains at a level slightly below that of other passengers.”

This report is a more comprehensive one as it covers customer satisfaction with airlines, hotels, full-service restaurants, fast food chains, consumer shipping, and the mail services of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).

The low -cost carriers manage to offer a good customer satisfaction with JetBlue leading the airline industry for the second straight year (up 2% to an ACSI benchmark of 83), the ACSI revealed, while Southwest manages to get back on track with a 5% gain in passenger satisfaction.

“As operations are combined and consolidated, airline mergers are not without significant problems and passenger dissatisfaction is usually one of them,” says Fornell. “Sometimes these are short-term problems that eventually get solved, which seems to be the case here. Not only are passengers pleased, investors are as well. Southwest’s stock is up 50% over the past year.”

In what the hotels are concerned, the guest satisfaction remains on hold – an ACSI benchmark of 77 for the third straight year – being however reasonably high for the industry. Marriott reached 82 in this index and became number one, followed by former number one, Hilton, which remains at 80. Best Western, Hyatt and Starwood have also good results (78 or 79).

“Hotels continue to rely on perks like free Wi-Fi, breakfast buffets and loyalty discounts to encourage repeat business, but higher levels of customer satisfaction over the past few years also boost loyalty,” says David VanAmburg, ACSI Director. “Similar to the airline industry, hotels are seeing a rise in customer satisfaction for a crucial business segment, as business traveler satisfaction now matches that of leisure guests.”

There is a only 1 point difference in the sit-down restaurants category, with full-services restaurants getting 81, while fast-food chains are at 80. All restaurants got good results – over 80 – only Chili’s is at 78.

The top the full-service restaurant are Olive Garden and Red Lobster at 83, two Darden-owned brands, while Subway is the best fast food restaurant at 83 (+1%), followed by pizza restaurants Papa John’s and Little Caesar (82) and Pizza Hut (80 +3%).

Customer shipping is also on the rise, FedEx and UPS having good scores.

So, how can you find cheap annual travel insurance? Firstly, make sure you’re only booking what you need. Don’t pay extra for winter sports or ski equipment hire if you’re only planning to spend a week on a beach or somewhere without snow. Equally, if you are planning any extreme sports or potentially dangerous activities, make sure these are mentioned or included in your insurance policy. You may have to pay a little more to top up your policy but it will certainly be worth it in the long run.

You can also use comparison sites to find cheap annual travel insurance. Use a reputable site to search for travel insurance policies and compare options until you find the one that suits your holiday. You can use comparison sites to compare value and price too. However, always remember that you should book the level of travel insurance that best matches your style of holiday and planned activities, rather than the cheapest policy. After all, booking the right level of cover now will be worth it in the long run, and it’s a small price to pay for correct cover and complete peace of mind.

Muza-chan’s Gate to Japan

I’ve been following Muza-chan.net for years on StumbleUpon and Twitter, and recently I also managed to discover Lili Florea, the wonderful lady behind this project, is actually Romanian… How I could overlook such a detail? Don’t ask, I still haven’t managed to figure it out. Let’s just stay that I spent more time on the site while deciding on my future trip to Japan and it finally hit me. 

Muza-chan.net is a must read if you plan to travel to Japan. I recommend it whether you’ve been there before or not, you will definitely find something new and enticing to make you decide to go all over again.

Oh, by the way, you can follow Muza-chan on Google+ as well, if the site and Twitter are not enough for you Now start reading!

Enjoy the weekend everyone!

“Since its launch, Aloft has emerged as a popular choice among savvy business travelers. We are thrilled to launch the Aloft brand in Cancun, a renowned tourist destination as well as a prime business travel destination that is seeing increased demand in the meetings and conventions segment,” said Osvaldo Librizzi, Co-President the Americas. “This opening is also an important step for Starwood as it marks our 25^th hotel in Mexico and the entrance of our eighth brand in the country. Furthermore, it allows us to continue to build on the momentum of the Aloft brand in Latin America.” 

Guests choosing Aloft Cancun will be able to enjoy the re:mix^SM communal lobby area or at the w xyz^SM bar and several other facilities such as a rooftop pool, the re:fuel café and the re:charge^SM gym. 6,500 square feet of banquet and meeting space were also included in the plans for this hotel for special events.

“We’re delighted that Cancun will be the launching platform for the Aloft brand in Mexico, and we are excited to partner with Starwood in this project,” said Mauricio Hamui Hilwani, owner and Director of Promotora TIIM. “Cancun continues to establish itself as an important convention and tourism hub, as demand increases from leisure and business travelers. As a result, it is the ideal location for Aloft – a brand that caters to both segments.”

Aloft Bogota Airport was the first hotel in the brand’s portfolio, opened in 2011, followed shortly by Aloft San Jose in Costa Rica. In the present moments there are eight Aloft branded hotels in operation or in development in the region, with Aloft Panama scheduled to be inaugurated in June. In 2014 will be open Aloft Merida and Aloft Guadalajara, while Aloft Asuncion and Aloft Montevideo are scheduled to launch in 2015.

Located at only 15 minutes from Owen Roberts International Airport, the Holiday Inn Resort Grand Cayman hotel is also very close to some of the local attractions such as StingrayCity and Rum Point. Also, CamanaBay and George Town are accessible via the resort’s complimentary shuttle service.
“We are thrilled to bring a Holiday Inn Resort hotel to one of the most popular destinations in the Caribbean,” said Gerardo Murray, vice president, Marketing Strategic Services for Mexico, Latin America and Caribbean, IHG. “Adding this property to our Holiday Inn Resort brand portfolio is in alignment with our strategy to bring the brand to easily-accessed leisure destinations.”

“This new Holiday Inn Resort property will further bolster the strong presence of the Holiday Inn^® Brand Family in the Caribbean while also enhancing the travel experience of our guests,” said Heather Balsley, senior vice president, Brand Management, the Americas, IHG. “Grand Cayman is a family-friendly vacation destination and a key location for the Holiday Inn Resort brand.” The Holiday Inn Resort network has many properties, and I must say I had a really pleasant stay in May this year at one of their hotels in the Czech Republic.

With this new addition, Holiday Inn Resort is now present in 21 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.